Australia hit by rare weather phenomenon-Rain Bomb.

Why in news?

• Australia is currently facing catastrophic weather events as a result of global warming.
• Australia’s third-most populous city, Brisbane, was underwater Monday after heavy rain brought record flooding to some east coast areas and killed eight people.

About Rain Bomb

• Rain bombs are also known as Wet Microbursts.
• A microburst is a small column of sinking air known as downdraft that forms within a thunderstorm and has a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 miles.
• Microbursts can cause significant surface damage and can also be life-threatening. Wet microbursts and dry microbursts are the two main types of microbursts. Wet microbursts are accompanied by a lot of rain.
• Process-
• It begins with the formation of a thunderstorm and the water droplets or hailstones suspended within the updraft. An updraft can sometimes be so strong that it suspends huge amounts of these hailstones and water droplets in the upper reaches of a thunderstorm. Cooling due to evaporation occurs and this causes a decrease of the updraft.
• Once this happens, the thunderstorm’s huge core of rain or hail will no longer be able to hold it. Thus, the core falls to the ground. It spreads out in all directions as soon as it strikes the ground. The area where the microburst initially hits the earth has the strongest winds and the most damage.